Having accepted the false belief that matter is real and powerful, and supposing himself separated from God's kindness, Job argued with his friends: "How should man be just with God?... Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not.... If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice." The despondency of Job finds affinity in the thoughts of men today and prevents the intelligent expression of thanksgiving and gratitude, which are coincident with a right understanding of God and His perfect idea, man. Erroneous material concepts involving the unreal beliefs of lack and deprivation, hatred and fear, sorrow and loss, make inroads upon humanity's well-being; and millions are under the delusion that only by some stroke of chance or fate are these false powers to be thwarted.
A counterfeit sense of thanksgiving and rejoicing attends whatever material success mankind may reach in its efforts to overcome the vicissitudes of temporal life. When, through blind belief that the human will has power to resist the negative and destructive attributes of mortality, the machinations of materiality seem for a time to be set aside, mankind glories in the accomplishment, and declares with zealous self-sufficiency what great things it has done. But the seeming power of the carnal mind is incapable of sustaining its inconsistent position, for, being wholly material, it is ever insecure in the maelstrom of hypothesis and supposition. Under this false sense of government the apparent material successes of human experience may be worse than its failures.
But what of the divine, the supreme and infinite Principle, Love, which eternally supplies all good? And what of the real, spiritual thanksgiving and joy, which many have believed to be either unattainable or nonexistent? Are they beyond knowing here and now? Is it not true that happiness, health, holiness, and spiritual realization are present possibilities, and that thanksgiving and rejoicing can be truly genuine? To these important inquiries, Christian Science brings the gladsome response, Yes! for God and His eternal laws of infinite abundance, love, confidence, joy, health, and peace are ever present, all-powerful, and infinite; and man, as God's spiritual reflection, possesses in full measure the good which a loving Father-Mother forever bestows!
